. . . a comprehensive history of orchestral performance (and, to a lesser extent, recording technique) over the last half-century, and a fascinating overview of how a work that started life as a challenging, groundbreaking artistic statement morphed into a familiar, polished showpiece; eventually to be re-examined with fresh enthusiasm and newly considered interpretative perspectives . . . Stravinsky's masterpiece through the hands of some of its greatest champions. One thing is for sure: Le Sacre is the most vital and up-to-date centenarian alive today . . . The thing that struck me most forcibly about the performances from the 1940s and 1950s was their bounce: It is clear that this is music of the dance. Even Monteux brings a delicate spring to the rhythms . . . [others] launch into this music at full pelt -- as Solti does, for instance . . . Other impressive early performances include Fricsay . . . and Rudolf Albert conducting the Orchestre de Cento Soli (or One Hundred Soloists) in 1956 . . . Albert and his handpicked Parisian orchestra played a lot of contemporary music and it shows here. They never appear to be struggling with the trickier aspects of Stravinsky's score and display tighter ensemble than most of their contemporaries. By far the most gripping of these early recordings are the two made for Mercury by Doráti and the Minneapolis Orchestra . . . [Doráti] revels in the work's drama as well as its musical details. The Mercury sound, especially in stereo, remains excitingly present . . . [Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker 1960]: it is a well-played performance. The musical standard is high in terms of orchestral balance and textural shading and the recording sounds quite good too . . . [Karajan] was a great conductor overseeing a splendid orchestra: His thoughts on the work are well worth hearing . . . A giveaway is the final chord . . . In the 1957 stereo version from Ernest Ansermet the chord packs a real punch, sounding like a meteor hitting the earth . . . The most compelling performances from these decades are those where the conductor finds dramatic impetus in the rhythms: LSO/Abbado (1975), Cleveland/Chailly (1985), and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under Levine (1992) . . . when Gergiev's recording with the Mariinsky Orchestra was released . . . a fresh and truly visceral Rite appeared. Not only does Gergiev reassert the work's theatrical origins, but recreates a genuinely Russian ambience. After all, many of Stravinsky's themes were deliberately modeled on ancient Russian chant. The Mariinsky musicians manage to sound simultaneously sophisticated and raw; the waspish composer would have approved. In fact, I would go so far as to describe Gergiev's recording as the new yardstick . . . Dudamel leads a truly dazzling performance: fleet and invigorating . . . this is terrific music-making . . . [Violin Concerto]: Dushkin brings plenty of panache to the solo part written for him . . . As with many recordings of new music -- the concerto was composed only four years earlier -- the performance has an in-your-face commitment and revels in the shock factor of its dissonant harmonies and rhythmic attacks . . . the results are fascinating and the rewards many . . . I would rather own the big box . . .

Record Review /
Phillip Scott,
Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ) / 30. April 2013

. . . monumental . . . the Decca box, which is a broad . . . overview of the work's discography, is full of majesty . . . a candy box . . . [Beinum, Royal Concertgebouw Orkest]: Admirably executed by the playing standards of the time, it is a sober, pitiless, and rhythmically measured account of the piece . . . Ansermet is impossible to dismiss . . . The hidden gem among the French recordings is that of the now-forgotten Orchestre des Cento Soli, conducted by the equally obscure Rudolf Albert . . . it's an insistent, urgent reading, suavely phrased and crisply articulated . . . [Dorati, Detroit Symphony Orchestra]: a Stereo Spectacular in every sense, with the different sections of the brawny Motor City band played off in brilliant competition . . . [Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1972]: the recording helmed by its then associate conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, is unquestionably one of the finest ever made. From the stunningly long opening bassoon note, we know that we are in for a wild ride . . . Deutsche Grammophon's wizardly Tonmeisters give us a richly saturated Technicolor sound . . . Here, ladies and gentlemen, is bassoonist Sherman Walt, with Doriot Anthony Dwyer on flute -- legends conjured for our grateful ears . . . [Salonen, Los Angeles Philharmonic]: [an] enlightening experience . . .

Record Review /
Russell Platt,
New Yorker / 17. June 2013

Twentieth-century music has never been better served . . . and I have never had so much fun listening and reviewing.